UP plans $20 million project for New Mexico block swap yard

Union Pacific Railroad is investing $20 million to build an additional block swap yard at its Santa Teresa intermodal terminal and refueling station in New Mexico.

The additional block swap yard will allow the Class I to add container blocks to passing trains faster and more efficiently, according to a press release issued by the New Mexico Economic Development Department.

When the project is completed, containers from inland ramps destined to Southern California will launch more frequently to the block swap yard, where they will be consolidated to move toward their specific destinations, UP Executive Vice President of Marketing and Sales Kenny Rocker wrote in a customer announcement issued last week.

The original 2,200-acre intermodal facility opened in 2014. Many of the containers stored there are loaded from factory floors, then onto trucks that cross Mexico's border into the United States at the Santa Teresa or El Paso, Texas, crossing. Cranes load the containers in Santa Teresa, which are then picked up by passing trains and delivered to warehouses, manufacturing plants or retail locations.

UP has 618 miles of track in the state. The Santa Teresa facility currently has a capacity for 225,000 container lifts.